NACRAS NEW F18 INFUSION

In a Class as Formula 18 all producers of brands have to stay on top of the results and the market. Everybody knows that these boats are innovative racing machines and therefore changeable to what the market demands. The Nacra infusion is made with the latest technology in construction and hull design and therefore probably the most innovative F18 out there at the moment.

Construction

The Nacra F18 infusion is the only production cat that is made with infusion technology. This technique makes sure that weight will be reduced in the important places of the boat and that the body of the boat is so much stiffer all over compared to conventional techniques. The dagger boards and rudders are also differently produced than with conventional methods. These are made in 3D shaped aluminium molds and are highly compressed which gives the Nacra F18 infusion stiffer and stronger blades for high level racing. In the Nacra F18 infusion is the same technology used as in the Nacra A2 A-Class that became World Champion A-Class in 2005. This construction method also provides durability to the boat and makes it possible to compete in high level events for many years to come.This Nacra also features a wing shaped mast which provides the total rig with superb rig dynamics.

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Hull Design

Wave piercing hull technology is the way of the future as several types have already been proved. The Nacra F18 infusion is the latest design based on this principle. Compared to the conventional (classic) hull shapes, wave piercing hulls are moving more over the surface rather than through the water. With this technology you have less resistance and therefore possibly faster speed. Especially upwind in really choppy conditions, the boat pitches less than the more traditional F18 and hence sails significantly faster, as in stronger winds the crew places there weight further back and the boat starts to plane over the water even upwind. In contrast to classic V shaped hull designs, the Nacra F18 infusion stabilizes itself at higher speed due to the dynamic lift, hence reducing pitching to very low levels. Less pitching leads to a more regular and consistent airflow around the rig which in the end can translate to more speed.

First place, first production boat, first time racing!

The new Morrelli & Melvin designed NACRA Formula 18 catamaran wins it's first regatta sailed, counting all first place finishes. Pete Melvin and crew Jacques Bernier won the 2006 Southern California Midwinters held February 18-19 in Long Beach , California . They were very pleased with the speed, handling, and strength of the new boat. They were sailing production hull #1 and had no breakdowns of any kind.

"We had not sailed this design against F18's produced by other manufacturers so were anxious to see how the new boat performed. We were pleasantly surprised to find that our speed was excellent upwind and mind-blowing downwind. We have very few hours on this new design so are confident that we will be able to further improve the outstanding performance potential of this new design." said Pete.

F-18 Fleet  -  Sailed: 6  Discards: 1

Nacra F18 Infusion proves to be very competitive!!

Under beautifull weatherconditions, the first event of the year was sailed at Muiderzand in the Netherlands. Let's hope that we will have these sunny and windy conditions the whole year. It was also the first appearance in racing for the Nacra F18 Infusion in Europe. The whole Nacra team was very excited to see what the new boat was going to do against other very quick teams. “The Nacra F18 Infusion proved to be as competitive as the quickest F18 sailors of The Netherlands, and we even have not started to make sailinghours with her. It is amazing that we were putting this boat together on Saturday and that we were racing for top positions the next day. I have never experienced this with a new boat ” Peter Vink said, who was first over the line on Sunday.

The coming months the Nacra F18 Infusion can be seen all over Europe at Nacra dealers and of course, the international Nacra teamriders are preparing themselves to take up the challenge against 130 F18 sailing teams in Carnac (France) at Eurocat at the end of this month!

A few years ago, a group a sailors who wanted more competition at a level just below the Olympics got together and came up with the Formula 18 Class. This is an open design "box" rule, that allows boats from a variety of manufacturers to race together as long as the basic specifications of the class are met.The concept has gone over very well, especially in Europe where Formula 18 events typically attract 100+ boats. The first Nacra entry into this game was an inovative design from the Melvin/Morelli design team - among many other things, they designed the monster cat, Playstation.The Inter 18, that was the first really hot Formula 18 that domninated early racing. As other builders improved their own boats, the game became more competitive, and Nacra carefully designed and tested a new version called the F18, that saw a number of progressive improvements to help the boat sail easier and sail faster. The result, the Nacra F18, was not only a dominant boat on the Formula 18 circuit, but a strong enough class on its own to merit International status, something not easily achieved. The first official World Championship for the Nacra F18, in Michigan in September of 2005, was won by Dutch sailor Gunnar Larsen.

everything the design/builder team wanted, representing the very latest improvements and inovations, including a new construction technique, infusion, that Nacra first used last year for its hot new A Class boat, the Nacra A2. The boat is a dream to sail - very well-balanced, smooth, incredibly quick reacting but without any of the 'heavy' feel on the tiller that so many other boats of the this size have, and the wave-piercing hulls make it incredibly stable in any kind of waves.

After sea trails in November and January, the new boat went racing head to head against other Foumula 18s at both Long Beach and in the Netherlands, and the results have been overwhelming; in round-robin testing, no matter who is sailing, the new boat is faster. Upwind, downwind, no matter!Check out the designer's web site at www.morrellimelvin.com/sailboats/racing/018-2006F18-02.html

Nacra F18 Infusion Specs

Nacra F18 Infusion dominates F18 Class event!

The races were held at Hellecat ( Hellevoetsluis) and there were 30 teams that competed. Seven races were sailed during the weekend and a lot of sailors went home very very satisfied but tired.

Each and every race was won by a Nacra Infusion and so this was a very good way for the Nacra Team to prepare themselfs for Eurocat ( Carnac, France) next week.

Have a look at the overal results on www.hellecat.nl

Results:

1e Mischa Heemskerk/Sander de Boer Nacra F18 Infusion

2e Vincent Huntelman/Herwin v/d Kamp Nacra F18 Infusion

3e Vincent Kruyt/Rembrandt Puijkers Capricorn

Eurocat Results ( Carnac,France)

Nacra F18 Infusion 2nd, 3th & 6th in Eurocat event

Three Nacra F18 Infusions within the top 10!!! 138  F18's competing in total! 7 races!!

The Nacra F18 Infusion passed all its tests this week. It had her launch only a couple of months ago and is already competing for the titles in big international events! "We could not dream of a better start of the season and the long life of this Nacra F18 Infusion" Mischa Heemskerk said. " we are very happy about the results and we got very good response on the boat and orders at Nacra Europe dealers are coming in and we just have started sailing with the Infusion. There is so much more to learn in trim and handling but these results shows us the potentail of this boat and we will only be going faster and faster!!!"

Overall result Eurocat,

1st    Bundock/Ashby             Hobie F18

2nd   Heemskerk/De Boer   Nacra F18 Infusion

3th   Koning/Vink                 Nacra F18 Infusion

4th   Boulogne/Boulogne       Cirrus F18

5th   Vaughel/Lagarigue        Diam F18

6th   Larsen/Larsen             Nacra F18 Infusion

7th   Mourniac/Citeau            Hobie F18

8th   Varieux/Petit                  Hobie F18

9th   Power/Power                 Capricorn F18

10th   Sunnucks/Self              Capricorn F18

Have a look on the website of the organising club  www.yccarnac.com

Nacra F18 Infusion keeps on dominating F18 fleet!

After four days of racing with 12 races sailed in total, it was very obvious and clear that the Nacra F18 Infusion is the best F18 out there. During this regatta there has been raced in a huge range of different sailing conditions, from 5 knts with flat water, 10 knts choppy waves to 25 knts with big waves. The Nacra F18 showed to be a superb allround boat and demonstrated it can win races in any sailing condition. We especially would like to congratulate Mischa & Sander, Vincent & Herwin, Sascha & Gunnar and Coen & Peter on their result. Great performance guys!

2 552 Vincent Huntelman, Herwin v.d. Kamp 22.0 , Nacra F18 Infusion

3 NED 1111 Gunnar Larsen, Sascha Larsen 30.0 , Nacra F18 Infusion

4 NED 5 Peter Vink, Coen de Koning 45.0 , Nacra F18 Infusion

5 NED 76 Reindert-Jan van der Meulen, Carina Knol 65.0 , Capricorn

6 NED 34 Eelco Boers, Tjidde Boers 94.0 , Capricorn

7 NED 2 Oscar Zeekant, Noor van Uchelen 95.0, Hobie Tiger

8 NED 917 Gerard Loos, Pieter van Ruitenberg 96.0 , Hobie Tiger

9 NED 911 Christa van Helden, Juppe Hebly 129.0, Capricorn

10 Ned 01 Remco Kenbeek, Paul Brouwer, 135.0, Capricorn

11 NED 438 Maayke Tadema, Sibren Tadema 150.0, Nacra F18

Also many thanks to all the other Nacra sailors who showed up with their F18’s. We have seen teams sailing on the Nacra F18 Infusion that were doing a great job and finished a lot better in the fleet than they did years before on their “classic” type boats! Well done! 

For more info about the North Sea regatta: www.nsr.nl